Dec

Liu Futang’s case casts shadow on China’s environment commitment

China’s renowned environmental reporter Liu Futang was sentenced to a 3 year probation against the backdrop of the ruling Communist Party’s increasing emphasis on “Ecological Civilisation”.

The veteran environmentalist was found guilty by the local court in South China Hainan Province for “illegal business activities” and fined £1,700 last Wednesday.

The prosecutors claimed Liu had profited illegally from his self-publishing books despite that Liu gave away most of his books for free. The trial against Liu opened in October was believed to be a political retaliation as Liu’s books exposed environmental degradations caused by government-backed projects.

Wednesday’s conviction, came only weeks after 18th Party Congress’s high profile advocacy of building a “Ecological Civilisation”, is believed to effectively silence the vocal environmentalist.

The self-contradicted act has casted shadow on China’s environmental commitment and worried China’s green activists.
Feng Yongfeng, founder of the Beijing-based NGO Green Beagle, regretted that the judicial authorities in Hainan still misjudged local green activists’ intention.

“The judicial authorities in Hainan still badly underestimate local green activists’ role,” Feng said, “they have treated the people who care for the local environment most as the people who hate the local development most. They have tried every way to framed them.”

While Liu was being trialled, the construction of the government-backed power plant project which Liu had previously spoken against resumed, according to Radio Free Asia. The project near Yinggehai town has sparked a month-long conflict between local residents and the government in March.

A local resident told Radio Free Asia that the opposition had been muted by fear. “There’s nothing to be done…if you make a fuss they just put you down,” he said.

Not all local green activists are dejected by Liu’s conviction.

Liu Jianqiang, Chinadialogue’s Beijing Editor and veteran environmentalist, said “what the local officials do, such as convicting Liu Futang, does not necessarily mean that the party hierarchy’s advocacy of ‘Ecological Civilisation’ is an empty talk.”

“The party hierarchy has the determination to build an ecological civilisation,” he said, “they have just come into power, and they need time to carry out their ideas.”

Some even saw the silver lining in the case.

Feng Yongfeng said that Liu’s case had raised the public concern toward the Hainan’s environmental issues so that local green activists would keep exposing any future environmental destruction.

“The government may not necessarily have learnt the lesson, but the public certainly have,” Feng added.